Nobody saw Patan gangrape as a stray case of sexual abuse, but not many knew the rot lay this deep.
Anshuman G Dutta & Vivek Vijayapalan
AHMEDABAD: Nobody saw Patan gangrape as a stray case of sexual abuse, but not many knew the rot lay this deep. Incidents of atrocities against women are rampant, but few victims are delivered justice. The scene's worse, in fact. Very few cases of crime against women are reported to the police, and those that are aren't taken to their logical conclusion - they are settled out of court, often at the perpetrators' own terms.
A DNA investigation done soon after the Patan gangrape came to light revealed that very few cases of crime against women are actually registered with the police.
The women's cell of the city police has registered just one case of rape in the past one year, apart from registering 89 cases of dowry-related deaths and just six cases of prostitution. Even more startling is the revelation by sources in the police department, who said that while 1,832 applications were received by the women's cell last year, almost all were later withdrawn or ended in a compromise.
"We are helpless when the complainant and her family refuse to go ahead with a police inquiry. They cite reasons like pressure from society and fear for the victim's reputation once her identity is revealed," said assistant commissioner of police (ACP), women's cell, Usha Rada.
Additional public prosecutor Dinesh Sharma told DNA, "According to Supreme Court guidelines, if two people are ready to arrive at a compromise, permission must be given for the same. The compromise is usually done when one or both parties in the case don't want to go through court proceedings."
However, lawyers and social activists said abuse victims arrive at a compromise against their will; they do so only under family pressure. Director of Navsarjan, Manjula Pradeep, said, "The victim's family members force her to retract the case as they don't want to accept her responsibility once she becomes a pariah. Therefore, she is walled into a situation where she is left with no choice but to give in."
Social activist Gagan Sethi went a step further and said that there must be a law against "forced compromises". "Not taking action against a crime goes against the ethos of a nation. I think more often than not, a victim pulls out of a case to avoid delayed justice, which has become a hallmark of the Indian judiciary."
d_anshuman@dnaindia.net v_vijayapalan@dnaindia.net
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